Feminism is such a controversial topic no matter where you turn. Everyone has a different outlook on things on what they think is right and what they think is wrong. Growing up can be a hard time for children and pushing your own views on them is going to make their life even harder. With that in mind, the way that we communicate can play a big role in how things get interpreted. Acting a certain way does not make you any less of a person.
Pornography is such a controversial topic and has so many opinions, but what it comes down to is how woman get looked at because of it. Simone de Beauvoir’s article “The Second Sex-Introduction” is problematic because it only talks about how woman are more inferior to men in many aspects. Expanding upon this article, she ignores the fact that women attempt to make a living for themselves but are still negatively impacted emotionally and cognitively.
Simone De Beauvoir’s book, “The Second Sex- Introduction”, is all about how woman are socially disadvantaged. They are meant to conform to a certain definition of the word ‘femininity’. What is that exactly? It is a way in which one conforms willingly or unwillingly to certain acts that were set by societal norms. With woman being socially disadvantaged, there are certain ways that a woman should act according to society. With that in mind, men are also known as the superior and more dominant of the two sexes.
Men are also known to be the default of the society and known to be mans ‘slave’. Women are not only being oppressed today, but have also been oppressed in the past. This is similar to other groups being oppressed such as: Jewish heritage, African Americans, Migrants, and so many more. The only difference that gets pointed out in the reading is that woman do not tend to rebel in this event unlike other groups.
Thinking of a way that a woman is supposed to act is all about how the person was raised and where these definitions of what it is like to be a ‘woman’ came about. There are many things that differ between men and woman, but society places certain aspects on the genders. For instance, men are supposed to be fix things such as mechanical work, pleasure your partner, make the money, be physically strong, and be more educated than woman. If you fail at any of these, than you have failed at being a man. When being a woman, you are supposed to conform to being nurturing, kind, emotional, stay at home mom, and undereducated due to being a stay at home mom. Just like the male role, if the women fails than she has failed at being a female. De Beauvoir states, “Every woman student who takes a position as a doctor or lawyer is stealing a place from us” (33). Woman are just trying to make a living for themselves but are still being criticized for wanting more for themselves.
In Simone De Beauvoir’s book, ‘The Second Sex- Chapter One”, once a child is born, male or female, they all have the same intuitions. They do not know that they are either male or female, they just grow up in society. As they age, they begin to understand how society interprets things and puts labels on certain aspects of your life. Boys and girls has the same sense for feeling wanted by their parents when growing up. Their attitudes remain the same. Each child has something that they can feel comfortable with while growing up. During these stages, educating children on their body and what it is like to be either a boy or a girl plays an important role in their development. Girls by an early age are already being taught what it is like to be a ‘woman’, whereas boys are being taught what it is like to be a boy, known as their childhood universe. As children begin to mature, their characteristics of what it is like to be a boy or be a girl are more apparent. These characteristics are taught by moms and dads, grandparents, teachers, and society.
Being young and growing up, a child is very fragile and they have no idea what is going on around them. As stated above, they all have the same intuitions. They are just beginning to learn things and begin to understand their emotions. I feel like this is the most crucial part of any person’s life on learning to go after your goals and to be who you want to be no matter what society says. Every child has the sense for exploring anything and everything. As they become older, De Beauvoir talks about how a little girl will look to her doll for security and a little boy will look to his penis for attention because it is something that is new. New things are always intriguing for children. Boys and girls are treated differently in a sense that when getting hurt, a little girl will be more coddled compared to a little boy. This affects the way that children perceive themselves along with learn how society wants them to act when getting hurt. When growing up “…the influence of education and society is enormous here,” (341) of parents, teachers, or even grandparents is very crucial in how a child sees themselves. Teaching the child to step out of their comfort zone and not pushing societal views on how they are supposed to act is the only way that we are going to get them to not have potential emotional problems, such as depression, and they will be able to learn easier in school.
Simone de Beauvoir Women Want More. (2022, Feb 13). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/simone-de-beauvoir-women-want-more/